We are all learners at PCC. The adult learners in our organisation are learning to do our job even better. At times we have staff learning together, just like we did during our curriculum, student free day. Our curriculum day was focussed on how we can better build positive relationships between teachers and students. We know that, when those connections are strong, our students are going to be in the best environment to learn better. Other times, staff engage in professional learning independently, where they can explore the learning needs of themselves to further enhance their capacity to improve learning for our students.

We are Responsible…

At Point Cook College, we are extremely fortunate to have some amazing programs and facilities. Unfortunately, these things are not free and our funding from the government only come some of what we have to offer. The rest of it comes from the small contributions we ask from families through Compass. It is extremely important that families are responsible for paying school commitments. Many of our special events will not be sustainable into the future without your support. Please make sure you speak with our amazing office staff about any concerns with finances or to organise payment plans.

We are Respectful…

We love your feedback and contributions to how we set up and create learning opportunities for the students at PCC. We are beginning to look at how we can further improve 7-9 for next year and beyond, your feedback and opinion is going to be crucial to this. If you have any suggestions, ideas or acknowledgments please share these with myself (Nathan) through nathangage@pcc.vic.edu.au to organise a time to chat or send through your thoughts.

We are always wanting to improve how we do things, we need your valuable perspective!

We are Safe…

We would like to encourage families to continue discussions about personal safety at home. Find opportunities to have meaningful conversations about what is going on in your child’s world. These conversations can be extremely valuable in our quest to support children to make safe choices. Again, we were saddened to learn about some Instagram accounts that have been set up by people to share and discuss inappropriate concepts and ideas. Including personal information and details of other people. Fortunately, we had some diligent students and families alert Instagram, and us ,of the account and it has since been closed down. Be alert and ‘be there’ for your children and seek to understand their world.

A massive welcome back to our existing Point Cook College families and a huge welcome to our new families joining us this semester. Get involved where you can across the college this semester and make this place even better. So many events are happening this term and in term 4 including; My Melbourne Experience, 7 & 9 Camp to Lake Dewar, Aladdin plus many more. Stay tuned…

We are Learners…

New semester makes way for new learning. We have seen what was achieved through semester one, in our reports, now it is time to set our sights on the next semester. We trust that families have spent some time exploring the reports and discussing ways of improving our learning further. Set some achievable goals together for this semester. They can be as simple as; setting aside 30 minutes when your child gets home from school to discuss some of the key learnings from that day, or having down time from the internet to read! Consider small incremental changes to habits at home that can really amplify learning.

We are Responsible…

We are all responsible for making our school as amazing as it is. Part of this responsibility lies with us being able to meet certain commitments. It has been quite sad to hear that we are not going to be able to run certain programs across our college, due to payments not being made by families. We would encourage you to make contact with our lovely office staff who will be able to support any challenges families might be having. Unfortunately, it is going to be impossible for us to sustain the current way of operating if we cannot get payments for things like; school fees, excursions, Pathways electives etc.

We are Respectful…

At Point Cook College, we are all working extremely hard to maintain a safe learning environment with high expectations. It is important that we all work together on this by respecting the policies, processes and decisions of the college. A huge example of this is our expectation for all students to be wearing correct school uniform correctly, our uniform policy is very simple to follow and can be found on the College website. With Melbourne Experience and other important events coming up, it is going to be very disappointing for students to miss out because they are not in correct uniform.

We are Safe…

We know that when we feel safe, our brains are primed and ready to learn. At our college we value this very important feeling and really want to make serious improvements if students are not feeling adequately safe at school. The feeling of safety can range from feeling left out of their social group, being around people making unsafe choices or feeling pressured to be involved in something that doesn’t quite feel right. We want to encourage all students to take a very important step in discussing these feelings with their teachers, parents or another trusted adult. Together we can explore strategies to improve our environment.

The final two weeks of every term are always amazing in 7-9. This is the period where our students are able to synthesise their learning from across the term into some amazing products. For example, our year many students will be spending time creating AVDs, which stands for Annotated Visual Display. An annotated visual display is a combination of visuals and summaries with explanations. This information is used to answer set criteria and assess student learning and understanding from across the term and can include new facts to show further knowledge.

We are Responsible…

With all of this work building up towards the end of term, it becomes increasingly important for students to self-manage, or organise their time better, in order to maintain the high expectations held of them for their learning. Sometimes we develop these skills organically, other times people need support to develop these very important organisational skills. Take some time to explore ways to manage and organise learning. Help your child to use their iPad to store due dates, complete to do lists or even spend time looking a certain apps designed to help students organise their studies.

We are Respectful…

The way we present ourselves to school at school goes a long way to show our respect for our college community. A big part of presenting ourselves truly ready for learning is to present ourselves respectfully by wearing our uniform in line with our uniform guidelines. It is up to all of us to maintain these high standards, please speak to our neighbourhood leaders if there are any challenges with acquiring the correct uniform. Students in 7-9 have been reminded that, if they are not in the correct college uniform they will not be eligible to participate in college programs. Students will be expected to hand over incorrect uniform items (for example, hoodies under polos) to teachers and can collect them at the end of the day throughout Semester 2.

We are Safe…

School holidays can be an amazing time to unwind after a massive term of learning. It can also become an amazing time for students to spend time with friends and family. Conversations about safe choices across the break, whether it be taking the bus to Town Centre or going to the movies at night with friends, talking about potential situations and discussing safe options will be extremely important over this time. We would like to wish all students and their families a safe and enjoyable break. See you in term three for an amazing second semester.

The reporting period for semester one is well underway and this is a great opportunity to celebrate all of the learning achieved this year. As well as celebrating the successes, it is important to utilise this reporting time to consider where growth can be achieved for the remainder of the year. Take time to start talking about some of your child’s learning achievements for semester one and what learning in semester two might look like. Our teachers are always happy to discuss your child’s learning, please contact them via email with your queries or to make a time.

We are Responsible…

In the secondary year levels, our students become much more responsible for getting ready for learning. This includes preparing good food to fuel them for the day and wearing the uniform correctly. We would like to ask that parents support their children to take responsibility for their readiness for learning, by checking in and ensuring that they have brain fuelling food in their bags and that they are wearing the correct school uniform.

We are Respectful…

We have a tremendously respectful community at PCC. It never ceases to amaze me how considerate and caring members of our community can be towards each other. Nothing helps us get ready for learning better than a sincere ‘good morning’, ‘how are you?’ or ‘are you okay?’ What seems simple and easy, can make a huge difference to our lives. Take time to be present with each other and lean in.

We are Safe…

Having discussions at home about being safe are crucial to the development of our student’s ability to make safe choices when not supervised by an adult. Talking about safe choices and options for social situations that teenagers encounter. Talk about the challenging topics of alcohol, smoking and even vaping. Discuss the dangers and empower our children to make informed, healthy choices. For more information, again, speak with your child’s teacher.

NAPLAN is over and we could not be more proud of the efforts put in by all students participating. Our attention is again drawn to the main game of learning, with students having time to working on individual and group learning goals. We would be expecting some positive home learning habits being well underway at this stage of the year. Reading should be occurring every day, plus some time should be spent completing incomplete learning tasks. Lots of the learning happening in class is accessible though the Google Classrooms and other online platforms, so conversations about learning could be happening at home. Please make contact with your child’s teacher is you would like any support or tips with supporting positive home learning habits.

We are Responsible…

Again, I would like to remind everyone that up to date calendars and timetables are accessible through the student COMPASS page. Student login details are the same as their log in for our server which is the student code (CASES ID) and Network Password.

It is also very important for us to support students to be responsible for the management of their extra-curricular responsibilities. This includes, organising payments for events and excursions on time, getting notes signed and returned in a timely manner, as well as turning up to the right location (in full school uniform, un otherwise stated). Students in 7-9 are often required to meet at Williams Landing for some city based excursions, please help students be organised and prepared for this.

We are Respectful…

We would like to acknowledge and wish all the very best to all of our students and families observing Ramadan over the next couple of weeks. We can be respectful by learning about the cultures of others. Ramadan, the ninth month in the Muslim calendar, is a special time for the Muslim community. As a most blessed month, it is a time for reflection, prayer and renewal of faith. Muslims worldwide fast from dawn to sunset to achieve greater self-discipline, self-purification, and compassion for those less fortunate.

For more information to learn about Ramadan go to https://www.icv.org.au/about/about-islam-overview/ramadan/

We are Safe…

Developing resilience is an extremely valuable way to become more safe. Resilience help us adapt when we are in hard times and during stress. It helps us ‘rebound’ when we fall down, and we are likely to fall many times through our journey of lifelong learning. Here is one valuable way to develop resilience together. Talk and unpack challenges/issue together – talking about challenges, putting them into perspective and considering the perspectives of others helps us learn about choices to deal with them. Always encourage your children to take control and discuss strategies for them work through their challenges.

Welcome to the end of Week 4. We could not have asked for a better first month of Term 2!

We are Learners…

The energy across the college is palpable, with so much learning happening for both staff and student. Staff have continued their learning around the Berry Street Education Model, which helps us to build an even more positive climate for learning. Students have been engaging in a wide range of learning experiences including Indonesian speaking competitions, 7-9 athletics carnival and preparation for NAPLAN.

We are Responsible…

When transitioning into the secondary part of the school, expectations to direct and manage our own learning increases. Students can improve their organisation by accessing their timetables and calendar through COMPASS. This is where they will be able to see if their class has been split, if they have a different teacher or there has been a room change. Student login details are the same as their log in for our server which is the student code (CASES ID) and Network Password.

We are Respectful…

The way we present ourselves to school at school goes a long way to maintaining the positive school culture we have. A big part of presenting ourselves truly ready for learning is to present ourselves respectfully by wearing our uniform in line with our uniform guidelines. It is up to all of us to maintain these high standards, please speak to our neighbourhood leaders if there are any challenges with acquiring the correct uniform. We are extremely fortunate at PCC to have such amazing facilities, awesome staff and amazing students. Let’s show our respect and pride for our college.

We are Safe…

When we feel safe, our minds are primed much better for learning. For our year 7-9 students talking about safety online becomes extremely important. Our adolescents are interacting with others online in ways that are sometimes beyond our comprehension. Their digital literacy is often far superior than the adults in our community. Please spend time learning about how your child works in the online world. Ask them questions about how they communicate with others. Ask them about Fortnite or Sarahah app. What does it mean to be safe on these sites?

We hope that all families discussed the importance of cyber safety, following our extremely successful Cyber Safety Day. The internet is such an integral part of all of our lives, especially for our students across 7-9. Conversations about safety online has never been so important. The internet has become a space where many of our adolescents interact socially, whether we like it or not, and creating a space where your children can openly discuss the nature of their social interactions online will go a long way. Please come and visit the College and take a look at all of the ways our students have pledged to be safe online. We all need to work together to support safe online environments.

Thank you to all of the families who attended the learning conversations with the 7-9 English and Mathematics teachers. We hope that this has sparked an ongoing conversation about student learning. If you were unable to make a time with your child’s teacher on during the set time, our amazing teachers are ready to make themselves available to meet with you. Their contact details would have appeared on the recent Compass push.

I know that we have only just started the term, however we can’t avoid getting a little excited for the end of this term where our amazing students will perform for you all in Aladdin Junior. It is sure to be awesome, let’s get behind the musical team and show our support.

Thank you to our amazing Student Leadership Group who ran our whole College ANZAC day commemoration service. It was well conducted and all of our students represented the College with the highest level of respect.

Our recent curriculum day focused on the Berry Street Education Model was a tremendous success. All staff participated in learning the ‘Body’ component of the course, which focused on how we can support our students to develop strategies to understand and deal with stress. This is a whole College focus and over the course of this year and beginning of next, teachers will complete 4 days of training that will assist us to strengthen our already Positive Climate at the College.

In the upcoming weeks our year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students will be taking part in NAPLAN. Further correspondence in relation to how we support our students through the NAPLAN assessments is also in this newsletter. At Point Cook College we value our capacity to develop a Positive Climate to support our students to do their best. We value students' efforts and strongly support them to put their best foot forward with anything they are doing.

On your marks… Our annual Athletics Carnivals are coming up (3/4, 5/6, 7-9), we would love to see as many of you as we can at our carnivals supporting our students to create an amazing atmosphere of sportsmanship. These days are highly valued at the College and this year they are compulsory for all students 3-9. There is no cost associated with the day, as the bus cost was included in your Essential Learning fee, please ensure that you complete the COMPASS permission form. It is important that you understand there will be no classes for the attending year level on the day of their athletics carnival.

We love hearing your feedback! Please contact myself, Dani or Bec if you have any that relates to the secondary space.

And just like that… we come to the end of yet another amazing term at PCC. We have so much to be grateful for and to start this newsletter item I would like to share three things that I am grateful for at PCC. I am going to encourage all families to spend some time talking about what they are grateful for. Research has shown that gratitude is an invaluable tool for building our happiness and capacity to be the best we can be. Have a go, you will be surprised at how valuable this can be.

1. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with the most amazing secondary students. Our students are resilient, respectful and demonstrate a deep understanding of tolerance for the differences that all members of our learning community possess. All of our students are leaders and we are confident that their leadership capacity is going to direct them to become valuable leaders beyond our school gates.

2. I am grateful for the adult learners across our college, including, staff and parents. The adult learners at our college are supportive and inquirers. Always exploring ways to do our jobs, whether parent or teach, better every time we are with children. We work to explore ways to support our young people to find truly valuable pathways of personal success.

3. Finally, I am grateful for the plethora of opportunities we are able to provide our students here at PCC. We are truly lucky to have the resources of authentic learning extra-curricular learning opportunities. Whether it be the awesome range of Pathways we have for year 9’s, any of our leadership programs, the sporting events or the opportunity to perform in a professional standard musical. When our students participate in these ‘extra’ programs, this becomes their core learning! Rich and authentic.

The term has closed with a bang with amazing things happening across the college in 7-9. With so many things happening across the college, it’s hard to keep up. Here is the smallest of snapshots of what is going on...

- Year 8 camp was, as expected, amazing.

- The annual robotics excursion to the Grand Prix was a hit.

- Our sporting teams represented our college on a number of occasions with pride.

If there is anything I have missed, the best way to find out more is to speak with your children about all of the amazing things that are happening.

Following a well-deserved break, term 2 is not going to disappoint. We will start off with a bang in week one with our super special Cyber Safety Day, where we will officially meet some very special characters. Also, in week one, we will have our Student Learning Conferences where we get to discuss student learning achievement in English and Mathematics, including next steps for learning. Our student free curriculum day is on the 26th of April. All of our staff will be spending the day learning strategies to enhance our positive climate for learning. I can’t wait to share more details on this one in term two.

Term One comes to an end, but we are only just getting started. This term we have collected a huge amount of evidence of learning for our 7-9 students. Our students are learning more about themselves as learners and are working with their teachers to set achievable goals for 2018. All of our teaching teams have been working together to design appropriate learning opportunities for all of our students. We are moving from strength to strength, our collective efforts and confidence if what is going to make the difference.

Just over half way through the term and we are flying along. Our teachers and students are building such strong, respectful relationships centred around learning, it is just magical to witness. Students are relishing the extra responsibility of transitioning safely between classes and working with a range of teachers. Who would have known that living the SWPBS Matrix would be so easy!

As the year continues to warm up, the opportunities to represent our amazing college increases. For example, we congratulated our awesome new SLC (Student Leadership Council) students in to the leadership team. Their first major engagement as leaders is coming up in the coming weeks during their GRIT Conference at the Melbourne Exhibition and Events Centre. Super exciting opportunity for these students. More opportunities will present themselves for students to lead within and across our college, stay tuned and continue to have conversations at home about what good leaders do.

Home Learning (or homework) is all about developing good learning habits at home. Besides spending around 30 minutes reading every night, students at PCC are often required to complete a range of learning tasks at home. Sometimes this is work that has not been completed in class, other times this is learning that is going to support or extend the learning happening in class. We are currently working on our PCC Home Learning Policy, this is a great opportunity for our community to have an input into what home learning should be like at PCC. Home Learning needs to be purposeful and tailored to the needs of our students and community. If you would like to have a say in this policy, please feel free to email Lizzie Tout or myself to share your thoughts.

Thank you to the new families who attended our New Family Seminar, the session was extremely informative. We understand that our College can at times be complex and value those of you who were able to give up your time to build stronger partnerships with us. In moving forward with developing partnerships, it would great to see more parents in attendance. This is our College and we value and appreciate your feedback. When future sessions are offered please ensure that you demonstrate your commitment, by joining in.

Across the term, our teachers have been participating in professional practice days. These professional practice days are a part of the Education Department new agreement. For terms 1, 2 and 4 teachers at our College have chosen to work within their Professional Learning Teams to enhance their teaching practice and influence how they go about teaching and learning. The days have been extremely productive and teachers have gained further insight into their profession.

Late last week we sent out a news item on Compass titled ‘staff professional learning program’, we encourage you all to take a look at this news item and watch the linked Ted Talk. Teacher feedback is an essential part of our profession and the executive team at Point Cook, please ensure you are aware of the program we have in place to provide this vital opportunity for teacher growth.

We love hearing from you. Communication between home and school speaks volumes about the partnership we are creating to impact the learning of our students. Please make contact with your child’s teachers to discuss any elements of your child’s learning. This could include finding out more about what’s been happening at school or learn more about what you can do at home.

Continue to discuss safety, learning, respect, and responsibility at home. What do these values mean and look like in your family? Work with us to build better learners!

We have made significant improvements to the way we work here at Point Cook College, particularly in 7-9. With students having the opportunity to work with a greater range of teachers across their learning week and in true PCC fashion, out students have transitioned beautifully into our new learning system. The spaces are buzzing with enthusiasm and dedication to make 2018 an extremely valuable year of learning.

Starting a new school year is filled with challenges, we would like to thank all of our parents and families who have supported these very important transitions. Especially when it comes to the valuable conversations at home that help our students build resilience about something not going their way, or working through some of the significant social challenges students face in the first few weeks of school. The positive partnership between home and school is vital for our work along this learning journey. Together we are going to make this year amazing.

This year is going to be filled with amazing learning opportunities for our 7-9 students at Point Cook College. We have had our first round of leadership opportunities come up, through SLC, and we had an overwhelming response from our students applying for positions. Congratulations to all applicants, Ms. Gigas will contact successful applicants in the coming week. We will have more leadership opportunities coming up across the year, so please continue to encourage and support your children to continue developing their leadership skills.

Some more opportunities occurring beyond our school include:

Victorian School of Languages (VSL) has the following language classes happening on Saturday mornings from 9.00am-12.20pm – Chinese, Russian, Korean, Malayalam, Spanish and Tamil. Please contact the office if you require any more information.

Home Learning

With our new learning system, home learning will be looking a little different across 7-9. The iPads will continue to be at the centre of home learning, with many experiences and tasks being uploaded to Google Classroom or sent via email. If you have any questions or would like to be more involved in the learning, please contact our wonderful neighbourhood leaders (Bec Collins or Dani Stewart) and they will be able to direct you to the best placed teacher.

Here are a number of special dates coming up that will be important for our 7-9 students:

• Year 8 Graffiti Incursion in 28th February

• Year 7 Excursion to Immigration Museum in March

• Year 9s attending the STEAM conference in March

• Robotics excursion to the Grand Prix in March

• Wyndham Youth Forum in March

• Year 8 camp, more information coming soon

If you are new to the College, welcome. We hope that you have settled in well to Point Cook College and are enjoying being a part of our community. The College will be hosting a New Family Seminar on March 1st at 7 pm in the Gymnasium, we hope that this will give you an in-depth understanding of how our College operates.

We love hearing from our families, feedback is what helps us improve. We now have a ‘parents and friends’ association, held at 2 pm every second Tuesday. PFA is a great way to be a part of the College Community, we strongly encourage parent/guardians? involvement and would like to see as many parents/guardians as possible on the PFA, for further details please contact Rebecca Thornton at the College.